Bill Text: MS HB1621 | 2026 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Hazardous waste disposal; revise certain provisions regarding.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Independent 1)
Status: (Failed) 2026-02-03 - Died In Committee [HB1621 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2026-HB1621-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2026 Regular Session
To: Public Health and Human Services
By: Representative Cockerham
House Bill 1621
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 17-17-27, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REMOVE THE PROVISION THAT PROHIBITS DISPOSAL OF HAZARDOUS WASTE BY THE USE OF UNDERGROUND INJECTION METHODS; TO AMEND SECTION 17-17-151, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REMOVE THE REQUIREMENT THAT THE PERMIT BOARD CONSIDER THE EXTENT TO WHICH PROPOSED COMMERCIAL HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITIES CONFORM WITH THE MISSISSIPPI CAPACITY ASSURANCE PLAN AND ANY INTERSTATE OR REGIONAL AGREEMENTS; TO AMEND SECTION 17-17-153, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REMOVE LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS OF COMPLIANCE WITH FEDERAL LAW; TO AMEND SECTION 17-17-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 17-17-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
17-17-27. (1) The department shall exercise such supervision over restrictions, equipment, methodology and personnel in the management of solid wastes as may be necessary to enforce sanitary requirements; and the commission shall adopt such rules and regulations as may be needed to specify methodology and procedures to meet the requirements of this chapter, which shall include at a minimum:
(a) Criteria for the determination of whether any waste or combination of wastes is hazardous for the purposes of this chapter;
(b) Rules and regulations for the storage, treatment and disposal of solid wastes;
(c) Rules and regulations for the transportation, containerization and labeling of hazardous wastes, which rules shall be consistent with those issued by the United States Department of Transportation;
(d) Rules and regulations specifying the terms and conditions under which the Permit Board shall issue, modify, suspend, revoke or deny such permits as may be required by this chapter. Such rules and regulations shall include, and not by way of limitation, specific authority for the Permit Board to consider the financial capability and performance history of an applicant;
(e) Rules and regulations establishing standards and procedures for the safe storage or transportation of hazardous waste and for the safe operation and maintenance of hazardous waste treatment or disposal facilities or sites or equipment;
(f) A listing of those wastes or combinations of wastes which are not compatible, and which may not be stored or disposed of together;
(g) Procedures and requirements for the use of a manifest during the transport of hazardous wastes;
(h) Standards for financial responsibility to cover the liability, closure and post-closure of any site and perpetual care of a commercial hazardous waste landfill. Rules and regulations promulgated hereunder may include, and not by way of limitation, requirements for maintaining liability insurance coverage if such coverage is not required under rules and regulations promulgated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency;
(i) Rules and regulations establishing minimum distances within which any hazardous waste disposal facility may be located from any municipality, school, residence, church or health care facility;
(j) Other rules and regulations as the commission deems necessary to manage hazardous wastes in the state, provided that such rules and regulations shall be equivalent to the United States Environmental Protection Agency's rules and regulations.
(2) In complying with this section the commission shall consider the variations within this state in climate, geology, population density and such other factors as may be relevant to the management of hazardous wastes. It is the intent of the Legislature that commercial hazardous waste landfills be located on those sites which, by virtue of their geologic conditions, provide a high degree of environmental protection. In carrying out the intent of this provision, the commission is authorized to adopt siting criteria for commercial hazardous waste landfills which are more stringent or extensive in scope, coverage and effect than the rules and regulations promulgated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
(3) * * *
A commercial hazardous waste landfill shall not be located on the same site or
within one thousand (1,000) feet of an existing or abandoned ordinary waste
disposal site, unless the hazardous waste to be disposed of in said commercial
landfill is specifically approved as exempted.
(4) After promulgation of the regulations required under this section, no person shall construct, substantially alter or operate any solid waste treatment or disposal facility or site, nor shall any person store, treat or dispose of any hazardous waste without first obtaining a permit from the Permit Board for such facility, site or activity. However, no person shall construct any new hazardous waste treatment or disposal facility or site or substantially alter any such existing facility or site, nor shall the Permit Board issue a permit for any such construction or alteration, until the commission has promulgated rules and regulations under the provisions of subsection (1)(j) of this section. Said rules and regulations shall be equivalent to counterpart rules and regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency whether now in effect or hereinafter promulgated. Any person who has made an application for a permit for an existing facility under this section shall be treated as having been issued such permit until such time as final administrative disposition of such application has been made unless the cause of such delay is the result of the failure of the applicant to furnish information reasonably required or requested in order to process the application.
(5) Any permit issued under this section may be revoked by the issuing agency at any time when the permittee fails to comply with the terms and conditions of the permit. Where the obtaining of or compliance with any permit required under this section would, in the judgment of the department, cause undue or unreasonable hardship to any person, the department may issue a variance from these requirements. In no case shall the duration of any such variance exceed one (1) year. Renewals or extensions may be given only after an opportunity has been given for public comment on each such renewal or extension.
(6) Information obtained by the commission concerning environmental protection including, but not limited to, information contained in applications for solid or hazardous waste disposal permits shall be public information and shall be made available upon proper request. Other information obtained by the commission, department, or Permit Board in the administration of Sections 17-17-1 through 17-17-47 concerning trade secrets, including, but not limited to, marketing or financial information, treatment, transportation, storage or disposal processes or devices, methods of manufacture, or production capabilities or amounts shall be kept confidential if and only if: (a) a written confidentiality claim is made when the information is supplied; (b) such confidentiality claim allows disclosure to authorized department employees and/or the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); and (c) such confidentiality claim is determined by the commission to be valid. If the confidentiality claim is denied, the information sought to be covered thereby shall not be released or disclosed, except to the Environmental Protection Agency, until the claimant has been notified in writing and afforded an opportunity for a hearing and appeal therefrom, as with other orders of the commission. Disclosure of confidential information by the EPA shall be governed by federal law and EPA regulations. Misappropriation of a trade secret shall be governed by the Mississippi Uniform Trade Secrets Act, Sections 75-26-1 through 75-26-19.
(7) Anyone making unauthorized disclosure of information determined to be confidential as herein provided shall be liable in a civil action for damages arising therefrom and shall also be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable as provided by law.
(8) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the executive director, upon receipt of information that the generation, storage, transportation, treatment or disposal of any solid waste may present an imminent and substantial hazard to the public health or to the environment, may take any legal, equitable or other action, including injunctive relief, necessary to protect the health of such persons or the environment.
SECTION 2. Section 17-17-151, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
17-17-151. (1) Each application for the issuance of a permit to operate a commercial hazardous waste management facility shall be accompanied by a demonstration of need for that facility in the anticipated service area, which shall be of the form and content as the Permit Board may prescribe. Applications for the reissuance, transfer or modification of previously issued permits, except modifications seeking an increase in the volume of hazardous waste to be managed on an annual basis, shall not be subject to the requirements of this section.
(2) The demonstration of need shall be specific as to the types of hazardous waste to be managed and shall include, but not be limited to:
(a) Documentation of the available capacity at existing commercial hazardous waste management facilities in the area to be served by the facility;
(b) Documentation of the current volume of hazardous waste generated in the area to be served by the facility and the volume of hazardous waste reasonably expected to be generated in the area to be served over the next twenty (20) years; and
(c) A description of any additional factors, such as physical limitations on the transportation of the hazardous waste or the existence of additional capacity outside the area to be served which may satisfy the projected need.
(3) The Permit Board shall consider the following factors in evaluating the need for the proposed facility:
(a) * * *
An approximate service area for the proposed facility which takes into account
the economics of hazardous waste collection, transportation, treatment, storage
and disposal;
( * * *b) The quantity of hazardous waste
generated within the anticipated service area suitable for treatment, storage
or disposal at the proposed facility;
( * * *c) The design capacity of existing
commercial hazardous waste management facilities located within the anticipated
service area of the proposed facility; and
( * * *d) The extent to which the proposed
facility is needed to replace other facilities, if the need for a proposed
commercial hazardous waste management facility cannot be established under
paragraphs (a) through ( * * *dc).
(4) Based on the needs of the State of Mississippi, it is the intent of the Legislature that there shall not be a proliferation of unnecessary facilities in any one (1) county of the state.
(5) If the Permit Board determines that a proposed commercial hazardous waste management facility is inconsistent with or contradictory to the factors set forth in subsection (3), the Permit Board is hereby empowered to deny any permit for such facility.
(6) The commission shall develop and adopt criteria and standards to be considered in location and permitting of commercial hazardous waste management facilities. The standards and criteria shall be developed through public participation, shall be enforced by the Permit Board and shall include, in addition to all applicable state and federal rules and regulations, consideration of:
(a) Hydrological and geological factors such as flood plains, depth to water table, soil composition and permeability, cavernous bedrock, seismic activity, and slope;
(b) Natural resource factors such as wetlands, endangered species habitats, proximity to parks, forests, wilderness areas and historical sites, and air quality;
(c) Land use factors such as local land use, whether residential, industrial, commercial, recreational or agricultural, proximity to public water supplies, and proximity to incompatible structures such as schools, churches and airports;
(d) Transportation factors, such as proximity to waste generators and to population, route safety and method of transportation; and
(e) Aesthetic factors such as the visibility, appearance and noise level of the facility.
SECTION 3. Section 17-17-153, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
17-17-153. (1) The Legislature finds that:
(a) The beauty and quality of Mississippi's environment and the public health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the State of Mississippi must be protected from unsound waste management practices which might result from lack of access to proper hazardous waste management facilities.
(b) Inefficient and improper methods of managing waste create hazards to public health, cause pollution of the lands, air and water resources, and constitute a waste of natural resources.
(c) It is the policy of the State of Mississippi that the generation of waste should be reduced or eliminated at the source, whenever feasible; waste that is generated should be recycled or reused, whenever feasible; waste that cannot be reduced, recycled or reused should be treated in an environmentally safe manner; and disposal should be employed only as a last resort and should be conducted in an environmentally safe manner.
* * *
(2) It is the intent of the Legislature that proper facilities must be sited as needed for the management of hazardous waste to meet the needs of Mississippi generators, and allow maximum effective use of regional hazardous waste management facilities; however, the Legislature believes that these objectives should be accomplished without Mississippi becoming a magnet for the hazardous waste from all other states and without the proliferation of unnecessary and unsafe facilities in this state.
SECTION 4. Section 17-17-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
17-17-3. For purposes of this chapter, the following words shall have the following definitions unless the context indicates otherwise:
(a) "Advanced plastic recycling" means a manufacturing process for the conversion of post-use polymers and recovered feedstocks into basic hydrocarbon raw materials, feedstocks, chemicals, and other products including, but not limited to, monomers, oligomers, plastics, plastic and chemical feedstocks, basic and unfinished chemicals, naphtha, waxes, lubricants, coatings, and other basic hydrocarbons. For the purpose of advanced recycling:
(i) "Depolymerization" means a manufacturing process where post-use polymers are broken into smaller molecules such as monomers and oligomers or raw, intermediate, or final products, plastic and chemical feedstocks, basic and unfinished chemicals, naphtha, waxes, lubricants, coatings, and other basic hydrocarbons.
(ii) "Gasification" means a manufacturing process through which recovered feedstocks and post-use polymers are heated and converted into a fuel and gas mixture in an
oxygen-deficient atmosphere and the mixture is converted into valuable raw materials and intermediate and final products, including plastic monomers, chemicals, waxes, lubricants, chemical feedstocks, that are returned to economic utility in the form of raw materials, products, or other basic hydrocarbons.
(iii) "Pyrolysis" means a manufacturing process through which post-use polymers are heated in the absence of oxygen until melted and thermally decomposed and are then cooled, condensed, and converted into valuable raw materials and intermediate and final products, including plastic monomers, chemicals, waxes, lubricants, plastic and chemical feedstocks, that are returned to economic utility in the form of raw materials, products, or other basic hydrocarbons.
(iv) "Solvolysis" means a manufacturing process through which post-use polymers are reacted with the aid of solvents while heated at low temperatures and/or pressurized to make useful products, while allowing additives and contaminants to be separated. The products of solvolysis include monomers, intermediates, and valuable raw materials. The process includes hydrolysis, aminolysis, ammonoloysis, methanolysis, ethanolysis, and glycolysis.
(b) "Advanced plastic recycling facility" means a manufacturing facility that receives, separates, stores and converts post-use polymers and recovered feedstocks using advanced recycling. An advanced plastic recycling facility is not a solid waste processing facility, solid waste management facility, materials recovery facility, waste-to-energy facility, or incinerator, but the facility is subject to department inspections to ensure compliance. Solid waste generated by an advanced plastic recycling facility is subject to all applicable laws and regulations for manufacturers relating to storage and disposal of solid waste.
(c) "Agency" means any controlling agency, public or private, elected, appointed or volunteer, controlling and supervising the collection and/or disposal of solid wastes.
(d) "Ashes" means the solid residue from burning of wood, coal, coke or other combustible materials used for heating, or from incineration of solid wastes, but excepting solid residue the storage or disposition of which is controlled by other agencies.
(e) "Commercial
hazardous waste management facility" means any facility engaged in the
storage, treatment, recovery or disposal of hazardous waste for a fee and which
accepts hazardous waste from more than one (1) generator. * * *
(f) "Commercial nonhazardous solid waste management facility" means any facility engaged in the storage, treatment, processing or disposal of nonhazardous solid waste for compensation or which accepts nonhazardous solid waste from more than one (1) generator not owned by the facility owner.
(g) "Commercial oil field exploration and production waste disposal" means storage, treatment, recovery, processing, disposal or acceptance of oil field exploration and production waste from more than one (1) generator or for a fee.
(h) "Commercial purpose" means for the purpose of economic gain.
(i) "Commission" means the Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality.
(j) "Composting or compost plant" means an officially controlled method or operation whereby putrescible solid wastes are broken down through microbic action to a material offering no hazard or nuisance factors to public health or well-being.
(k) "Department" means the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.
(l) "Disposal" means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking or placing of any solid waste or hazardous waste into or on any land or water so that such solid waste or hazardous waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including groundwaters.
(m) "Executive director" means the Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.
(n) "Garbage" means putrescible animal and vegetable wastes resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and consumption of food, including wastes from markets, storage facilities, handling and sale of produce and other food products, and excepting such materials that may be serviced by garbage grinders and handled as household sewage.
(o) "Hazardous wastes" means any waste or combination of waste of a solid, liquid, contained gaseous, or semisolid form which because of its quantity, concentration or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics, may (i) cause, or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness; or (ii) pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of, or otherwise managed which are listed by the Environmental Protection Agency as hazardous wastes which exceed the threshold limits set forth in the Environmental Protection Agency regulations for classifying hazardous waste. Such wastes include, but are not limited to, those wastes which are toxic, corrosive, flammable, irritants, strong sensitizers, or which generate pressure through decomposition, heat or other means. Such wastes do not include those radioactive materials regulated pursuant to the Mississippi Radiation Protection Law of 1976, appearing in Section 45-14-1 et seq.
(p) "Hazardous waste management" means the systematic control of the collection, source separation, storage, transportation, processing, treatment, recovery and disposal of hazardous waste.
(q) "Head" means the head of the Office of Pollution Control of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality or his designee.
(r) "Health department" means the Mississippi State Health Department and every county or district health department. "Health officer" means the state or affected county health officer or his designee.
(s) "Manifest" means the form used for identifying the quantity, composition, origin, routing and destination of hazardous waste during its transport.
(t) "Office" means the Office of Pollution Control of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.
(u) "Open dump" means any officially recognized place, land or building which serves as a final depository for solid wastes, whether or not burned or buried, which does not meet the minimum requirements for a sanitary landfill, except approved incinerators, compost plants and salvage yards.
(v) "Post-use polymer" means a plastic to which all of the following apply:
(i) It is derived from any residential, industrial, commercial, governmental, institutional, or agricultural activities.
(ii) It is not mixed with solid waste or hazardous waste onsite or during processing at a depolymerization, gasification, pyrolysis, or solvolysis facility.
(iii) Its use or intended use is as a feedstock for the manufacturing of feedstocks, raw materials, or other intermediate products or final products using depolymerization, gasification, pyrolysis, solvolysis or other similar technologies.
(iv) It has been sorted from solid waste and other regulated waste but may contain residual amounts of solid waste such as organic material and incidental contaminants or impurities such as paper labels and metal rings.
(v) It is processed at a depolymerization, gasification, pyrolysis, or solvolysis facility or held at such facility prior to processing.
(vi) Post-use polymers meeting the requirements of this section are not solid waste.
(w) "Recovered feedstock" means a post-use polymer or a material for which the United States Environmental Protection Agency, or the department, has made a nonwaste determination pursuant to 40 CFR 241.3(c), or has otherwise determined is feedstock that has been sorted from other solid wastes so that it may be used as feedstock in an advanced plastics recycling facility or other recycling operations. Recovered feedstock does not include unsorted municipal solid waste or material(s) that has been mixed with solid waste or hazardous waste onsite or during processing at an advanced plastics recycling facility or other recycling operations.
(x) "Permit board" means the permit board created by Section 49-17-28.
(y) "Person" means any individual, trust, firm, joint-stock company, public or private corporation (including a government corporation), partnership, association, state, or any agency or institution thereof, municipality, commission, political subdivision of a state or any interstate body, and includes any officer or governing or managing body of any municipality, political subdivision, or the United States or any officer or employee thereof.
(z) "Pollution Emergency Fund" means the fund created under Section 49-17-68.
(aa) "Rubbish" means nonputrescible solid wastes (excluding ashes) consisting of both combustible and noncombustible wastes. Combustible rubbish includes paper, rags, cartons, wood, furniture, rubber, plastics, yard trimmings, leaves and similar materials. Noncombustible rubbish includes glass, crockery, metal cans, metal furniture and like materials which will not burn at ordinary incinerator temperatures (not less than 1600 degrees F.).
(bb) "Sanitary landfill" means a controlled area of land upon which solid waste is deposited, and is compacted and covered with no on-site burning of wastes, and so located, contoured, drained and operated so that it will not cause an adverse effect on public health or the environment.
(cc) "Solid wastes" means any garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining and agricultural operations, and from community activities, but does not include solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits under Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended (86 Stat. 880), or source, special nuclear or by-product material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.
(dd) "Storage" means the containment of wastes, either on a temporary basis or for a period of years, except as provided in 40 CFR 263.12, in such a manner as not to constitute disposal of such wastes.
(ee) "Transport" means the movement of wastes from the point of generation to any intermediate points, and finally to the point of ultimate storage or disposal.
(ff) "Treatment" means any method, technique or process, including neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical or biological character or composition of any solid waste in order to neutralize such character or composition of any solid waste, neutralize such waste or render such waste, safer for transport, amenable for recovery, amenable for storage or reduced in volume.
(gg) "Treatment facility" means a location at which waste is subjected to treatment and may include a facility where waste has been generated.
(hh) "Unauthorized dump" means any collection of solid wastes either dumped or caused to be dumped or placed on any property either public or private, whether or not regularly used. An abandoned automobile, large appliance, or similar large item of solid waste shall be considered as forming an unauthorized dump within the meaning of this chapter, but not the careless, scattered littering of smaller individual items as tires, bottles, cans and the like. An unauthorized dump shall also mean any solid waste disposal site which does not meet the regulatory provisions of this chapter.
SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2026.
